


Reputation

by ElAlmaDelMar



Series: A/B/O/tober 2020 [21]
Category: One Piece
Genre: Alpha/Beta/Omega Dynamics, Gen, secrecy
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-10-21
Updated: 2020-10-21
Packaged: 2021-03-08 19:41:57
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 489
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/27141947
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/ElAlmaDelMar/pseuds/ElAlmaDelMar
Summary: "Shh.  Not so loud, eh?  Keep it behind your teeth."  Roger tapped a finger over his own lips as though to demonstrate, lowering his voice to a murmur.  "I haven't been sailing these seas for a quarter of a century only to have my little secret spilled now."A/B/O/tober Day 21: Secondary gender secrecy
Relationships: Gol D. Roger & Crocus
Series: A/B/O/tober 2020 [21]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1947415
Kudos: 39
Collections: A/B/O/tober 2020





	Reputation

The best doctor on the Grand Line stared at his new captain, blinking owlishly in shock. 

"Oh, come off it, man!" Gol D. Roger, the man who would soon be called Pirate King, boomed with what was supposed to be a perfectly cheerful air. He had the right intonation down, and the comradely slap he delivered to Crocus' shoulder was certainly full of hearty camaraderie, but there was a hint of uncertainty lurking beneath his words, the faintest tinge of a question. "It can't be the first day you've seen a man in his shorts, can it?" 

"You're…" Crocus took a moment, swallowed down his shock, and tried again. "You're a-" 

"Shh. Not so loud, eh? Keep it behind your teeth." Roger tapped a finger over his own lips as though to demonstrate, lowering his voice to a murmur. "I haven't been sailing these seas for a quarter of a century only to have my little secret spilled now." 

"You've been hiding it from everyone, for all this time? Your own nakama?" 

That earned a chuckle. "Rayleigh knows. There's nothing he _doesn't_ know about me, after all this time. And of course, my lovely Rouge knows. And now you, good doctor. Three people in all this wide world." A pause, and then his grin shifted, darkened. Crocus could feel a hint of an icy ferality that made the plentiful, bright noonday light in his infirmary seem suddenly thin and weak. It might be a sunny day on the world's equator, but a chill trickled down his spine nonetheless. 

"Three people who still live, that is." 

And then the moment was over, and Roger was bawling out his laugh, rich and hearty and full, and the sunlight was warm again. 

"Ah, ah, but that's all in the past! I just appreciate a little discretion, that's all. These things — well, people will see a mark on a bounty poster, and they'll form opinions. Big Mom may have gone all in and embraced it, but that's not what I'm after. And a captain can't take time off, you know." His tone shifted again, going pious and sniffy. (Crocus was sure it was an imitation of someone very specific.) "It's bad for discipline and morale." 

"So instead, you stuff yourself to the gills with suppressants and pretend you aren't?" he asked, frowning. "As your doctor, and particularly given the state of your health, I'd like to at least know what you're taking, and in what sort of a dose. Those things can be dangerous if you take too much, or for too long." 

"Yeah, yeah, I can let you poke at them." Roger waved a hand. "But the point is, you'll hush, yes?" 

"Yes, I can do that." Crocus nodded. Only the start of his career as a Roger Pirate, and here he was carrying his captain's most closed-in secret. 

_Oh, Laboon, what stories I'll have to tell you when I get back!_

**Author's Note:**

> Just a little blob of headcanon that's been tickling around the back of my mind. 
> 
> Come chat with me on my [Discord server](https://discord.gg/SWVYBBn)!


End file.
